Category: Depression

I once heard this testimony from a counselee who came to see me because of depression:

“My mother suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness for most of my childhood. She would be in bed for months at a time, and then I would come home from school one day and she would be gone, in the hospital. After a few weeks, she would come back home, usually drugged or just flat. She’d be ok for a while, but then the depression would come back, and it would start all over. Finally, when I was in high school, she got the diagnosis: Major Depressive Disorder.[i][ii] She was put on medications, and pretty much stayed stable until the end of her life, when the drugs finally destroyed her kidneys and she passed away. I am terrified that this is my future. My doctor thinks I have it, too.”

“I don’t know what happens! One day, I’m happy and everything’s fine. The next day, even though nothing has changed and there are no new problems, I’m miserable, mean, can’t stop crying, and all my problems seem completely insurmountable! It’s like I’m Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!” These aren’t the words of any particular person, but they sum up well the lament of those who suffer from PMS[i][ii]. This monthly cycle of everything that was fine yesterday being devastating today is a very common theme in counseling, and I suspect in all of womanhood. So, what’s the deal with PMS? Did God just decide to play a cruel trick on women? Was he mad at Eve for eating the fruit, and decided to take it out on all of her daughters forever?

If you are a counselor, it is highly likely that you are helping someone who has been diagnosed with a mental disorder. Mental health professionals use the Diagnostic Statistic Manual, or DSM, to describe, categorize, and diagnose such disorders. Have you ever wondered how to help people who have been diagnosed and what your view should be of the psychoactive medication they are usually prescribed? In Descriptions and Prescriptions, Mike Emlet attempts to provide us with a framework for how to view both the DSM and psychoactive medication.

There are many definitions of depression out there in the world, but biblically, depression can be defined by just three words: Sorrow without hope. A depressed counselee has lost hope, and now believes she will never be happy again. Perhaps something terrible has happened to trigger this season of deep sadness. But often, there has been no crisis or life-changing event that has shaken the counselee’s faith.

If life has changed dramatically for you, never to be the same again, you are probably reeling, uncertain what to do or where to go from here. You know that you were created to bring glory to God, but you don’t see how you can do that in your present condition. The truth is, my dear sister, you can bring glory to God in any condition He sovereignly ordains for you, no matter how unwelcome it may be in your view. This truth will never change. Your identity hasn’t changed, either. You may feel incomplete as you are now, but God says you are complete in Him.

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